Skip to main content

Thailand to tackle illegal motorway racers and child road death toll

Illegal motorway car racers in Thailand are to be targeted with additional radio frequency identification (RFID) systems and surveillance cameras. The move comes after Thai authorities have been tackling high-speed motorcycle racing involving youth gangs, mainly from low-income households. Meanwhile, a new seatbelt law for children is set to be introduced in a bid to reduce the country’s number of child accident deaths. It will make it compulsory for children aged below 15 to use a seatbelt when a passenger
May 9, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Illegal motorway car racers in Thailand are to be targeted with additional radio frequency identification (RFID) systems and surveillance cameras.

The move comes after Thai authorities have been tackling high-speed motorcycle racing involving youth gangs, mainly from low-income households.

Meanwhile, a new seatbelt law for children is set to be introduced in a bid to reduce the country’s number of child accident deaths. It will make it compulsory for children aged below 15 to use a seatbelt when a passenger in a vehicle. The move has been welcomed by Adisak Plitponkarnpim, paediatrician in the 5469 Faculty of Medicine at Ramathibodi Hospital, who has also called for safety seats for younger children in vehicles to be made compulsory. 

According to a report by the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, 614 children aged 15 years and below died in motor vehicle accidents in Thailand in 2011. Out of the total, 126 had not fastened their safety belts.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Meet Die Autobahn des Bundes
    November 8, 2021
    Only recently has Germany created a central organisation to maintain and develop the nation’s 13,200km of motorways, called autobahns. Moving from 16 state-run operation centres to one lead centre is a challenge but essential, says Gerd Riegelhuth.
  • High-speed pursuits
    February 23, 2012
    Two Italian policemen were left somewhat red-faced after being involved in an accident when returning from a convention where they had been speaking to students about road safety. The policemen crashed their Lamborghini high-speed pursuit vehicle, one two donated by the manufacturer to the police, into a rather more mundane Seat Ibiza. During the incident the Lamborghini slammed into a line of parked cars, with one of the vehicles then ending up on the roof of the high performance pursuit car. The front of
  • Cutting road crashes to save lives
    December 29, 2023
    Cutting road crashes can help save lives in the UK.
  • Thailand’s road safety crisis is killing the young
    May 21, 2019
    Thailand’s road safety crisis is killing a worryingly high number of its young citizens. The latest data reveals that over 17,000 youngsters are killed in road crashes/year. Most of the road crashes involve the use of motorcycles. Between 2013 and 2017, 17634 youngsters were killed on average every year, according to data assembled by the Road Accident Victims Protection Company, the Public Health Ministry and the police. The lack of helmet use amongst many of Thailand’s powered two wheeler riders is see